


Beary in Japan

by MacandLacy



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Autistic!John, Band as Family, Beary is the best, Fluff, Gen, Protective band, Protective fans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 06:29:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20559776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MacandLacy/pseuds/MacandLacy
Summary: John gets picked on.  Family and fans stand up for him and Beary.





	Beary in Japan

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LetMeEntertainYou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetMeEntertainYou/gifts), [thebrightestbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebrightestbird/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Beary](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18828673) by [LetMeEntertainYou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetMeEntertainYou/pseuds/LetMeEntertainYou). 
  * Inspired by [Big in Japan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17806895) by [thebrightestbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebrightestbird/pseuds/thebrightestbird). 

> Gift fic for the amazing LetMeEntertainYou and thebrightestbird who have so inspired me with their stories, especially “Beary” and “Big in Japan”.
> 
> Set during Queens 1975 Japan tour, where they were loved and treated like the young gods they were.

Queen had been told it would be a small press conference, but by their standards it was huge, the largest group of press they had ever faced. The boys were rather still shocked at how well they had been received by their fans in Japan, and how they were the center of all attention. Even Freddie was a little taken aback by all the fuss at times.

They were lined up at a table, answering questions, and for the most part, it was a fun event combining the press and some fans who had been allowed in. The reporters were respectful, most of the questions very relevant and fair, and even with the delay of translation, all was going well. Then a Western man in the middle of the foreign press group stood up.

“This question is for John,” he said in English. John took a deep breath, and tried to smile. “Would you care to comment on these pictures?” He held up a bunch of enlarged photos and waved them about. Several pictures were quickly passed up the table where Queen was seated, and John felt his heart drop.

Beary. It was a picture taken when they had arrived in Japan two days earlier. John had been exhausted and stressed at the long flight, and then overwhelmed by the fan’s reactions and excitement at the airport. Beary had been tucked away safely in John’s backpack but as they reached the cars, John had pulled out his old friend and hugged him fiercely, needing the comfort. He had refused to let go of him for the remainder of the night, and the pictures clearly showed Beary in his arms even at the hotel. John had a vague question of how the man had gotten the pictures, but it was brushed aside quickly by the sheer panic he now felt.

Roger snatched the pictures out of John’s hands. “No comment. Next question,” the drummer said crisply.

“No, we have a right to know!” the reporter protested. “Why is a grown man carrying a teddy bear? And the rest of you allow it? Is there something wrong with him? What is your problem, John?”

There was an audible gasp from the crowd as the words were translated for those who didn’t speak English. 

John had never set out to keep Beary secret or hidden, and neither had Queen. Beary had been visible in a few pictures before, including being on stage during some shows. But John had never been confronted over it in such a manner. It was John’s business to decide if he wanted to discuss it or not with anyone, and his three brothers supported him. Now he was being called out over it in front of cameras.

“Where is the bear right now, John?” the man continued. “Under your chair? Do you sleep with it?”

“That’s enough!” Freddie snapped, slamming a hand down on the table. “It is not the public’s business and how dare you bother John. If you can’t stay civil and ask questions about the band, then please leave.” It was marvelously restrained for the singer who was clearly furious, but he was trying hard to stay polite in front of their hosts. Roger didn’t have such qualms, and was already standing up, looking ready to throw himself at the man and start a fight. Brian had an arm around John, ready to support him and carry him out if needed.

“Do you have some sort of problem?” the man repeated with a sneer. 

There was a second’s pause, and then all Hell broke out.

Surprisingly, for once it wasn’t Roger at the center of a fight. It was a group of Japanese fans.

A teenage girl, perhaps all of sixteen years old and wearing a smart school uniform, appeared out of nowhere and slammed the man down with a karate punch to his gut. She was quickly joined by another girl who snatched the pictures out of the man’s hand and held them protectively to her chest. 

“I love John!” she shouted in accented English. “No hurt him!”

Then a group of teenage boys came forward, yelling abuse at the man in a mix of Japanese and English. The reporters scattered, people shoving, and adults trying to save the idiot from the young people bent on apparently murdering him. Roger and Freddie leaped off the small stage they were on and joined in, Freddie trying to calm everyone down, and Roger trying to get in a few shots himself. 

In the chaos, Brian quickly guided John out from the room and into a quiet hallway, followed by their translator and a couple Japanese record company executives.

“Oh my God!” John cried, hands going to his hair, pulling. “I’ve ruined everything, everything.”

“No, John, of course you haven’t,” Brian protested, taking hold of John’s hands and getting them away from his hair. John just started rocking, wanting to bang his head against the wall.

“It’s all my fault!” John gasped. 

“It’s the fault of that idiot back there,” Brian said angrily. “Its all going to be alright, just breathe, Deaky, come on, just breathe.”

There was a soft sound to their side, and both men looked to see their translator gazing at them with only kindness. “It is not your fault,” she assured John quietly, and Brian was relieved at her support. “That is clearly a horrible man.”

“We are so very sorry,” an executive said, and the shock of a record exec apologizing made John stop rocking. “Such bad manners of that man. We will fix it all.”

“Thank you,” Brian said. He looked at John. “Everything is fine, Deaky, don’t worry.”

The door from the press room opened and Freddie and Roger emerged, quickly pulling John into hugs. “What’s going on in there?” Brian asked.

“Got that fool kicked out,” Freddie said, clearly still furious. “Police are hauling him away. Are you alright, dear?” he asked John.

The bassist shook his head a little. He was better than he had been a few minutes earlier, but it was still pretty bad. “I need –“ he stopped.

“What? What do you need?” Roger asked, ready as always to help his youngest brother.

“I want Beary,” John admitted. “But—”

“No buts,” Freddie said firmly. “Roger, can you take our Deaky back to the room? Brian and I will manage things here.”

Within a few minutes, John had Beary held tightly in his arms, with Roger hugging both of them. “I’m so sorry,” John whispered to the drummer.

“What the Hell for? You didn’t do anything wrong,” Roger said cheerfully.

“I’ve embarrassed us. What if the record company is mad? What if they cancel the shows? What if—”

Roger put a finger over John’s lips. “None of those things are going to happen. You didn’t embarrass us at all. In fact, the entire room tried to kill that bastard. Everyone kept apologizing to *us*.”

“What?”

The blond chuckled. “The girl who threw the first punch speaks English. She said she loved you and Beary and was going to kill that rat. Turns out that a lot of the fans have seen pictures of Beary and just think you are even more sexy than me! Damn, now I need to get a bear. Wonder if they sell them here. Or maybe a stuffed dragon; are dragons big in Japan? Pandas are Chinese, right? What about dogs? Yeah, dogs.”

John had to smile a little as Roger continued to ramble, regaining his calm. “They really aren’t mad at me? They don’t think I’m stupid?”

“Hey,” Roger said sternly. “We’ve talked about calling yourself stupid. Only I – as your big brother – get to call you stupid. Which you are not at all. And yeah, everyone was upset because you were insulted. The record company head about had a heart attack over it. No one is mad at you, or thinks anything about Beary. They are terrified that *you* are upset.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

John thought for a moment, then took a deep breath, burying his nose in Beary’s soft fur. The reassuring familiarity gave him strength.

***** 

“I’m truly sorry if I caused any of this…fuss…today,” John said. “I hope no one was hurt.”

John was back in the press room, sitting nervously at the table again. Brian and Freddie were seated beside him, each with an arm around him, and Roger was standing behind him, hands on his shoulders, scanning the crowd for any sign of another troublemaker who dared to say anything bad about John. 

Or Beary. Who was now held safely and proudly in John’s arms.

“Umm…so, yes, I have a stuffed bear. My parents got him for me when I was a baby and he has been with me all my life.” John risked a look at the crowd and saw only smiles and understanding nods. “I brought him because….its a long flight, a big trip, and I wanted something from home with me.” 

It wasn’t the full story; John felt no need to explain to a crowd of strangers what Beary really meant to him, but it seemed to be enough to calm everyone down.

“Plain and simple,” Freddie said, taking over when John looked at him nervously, asking for help. “I think everyone has some special thing that they like to have with them. Like all my clothes, for example!” There was some friendly laughter from the crowd. “It’s just too bad that someone decided to pick on someone else for no reason at all.”

A reporter stood up and said something in rapid Japanese and the teenager who had first come to John’s defense came forward. “This is Koharu,” a translator introduced.

“Are you okay?” Koharu asked, her big eyes full of only concern.

John blushed, but nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you, Koharu,” he said. There was a scattering of giggles and awwww’s. “I, uh, thank you, for standing up for me.” More awww’s oozed from the crowd and Koharu blushed as well.

“He is a very bad man to say things like that,” she said sincerely. “I am sorry you were welcomed to Japan that way.” Everyone was nodding in agreement, and Brian patted John’s knee in support. 

“Please accept our apologies, Mr. Deacon,” said a record executive. John had to blink, still rather in shock at being apologized to. Then to his further shock, the Japanese bowed to John….and Beary.

“Of course,” he murmured, horribly embarrassed now for other reasons. He didn’t feel like saying anything else, and caught Freddie’s eye. The singer immediately launched into a discussion, changing the topic, and the press conference continued.

During the small gathering afterwards, everyone kept coming up to John and apologizing. And if more than a few people quietly told him that they too had a special friend or treasured object, well, John would keep their confidence. 

At the sold-out Japanese shows, thousands of people brought their own stuffed animals. A ‘Beary the Queen Bear’ fan group was started. Fans made sketches of Beary and mailed them to John or shyly pressed them into his hands. A famous Japanese artist drew a beautiful portrait of Beary and copies were sold to raise money for a local children’s hospital. Freddie started designing t-shirts to be made when they returned home. Brian had a perfect platform to talk about animal rights.

And Roger made a point of posing with cute animals – real and toy – to try and reclaim his sexiest status from John.


End file.
